GOVERNMENT PLANS TO SEPARATE INDIA POST’S
FUNCTIONS
The government is planning to separate the
functions of policy making, regulations and operations of the over 150 year-old
Department of Post (DoP)
.
Sources in Ministry of Communications and IT
said Kapil Sibal has asked for setting up a body to oversee the unbundling of
DoP's functions.
An independent body named Postal Development
Board (PDB) will be responsible for the overall development and governance of
the postal sector, they added. The PDB will also draw a road-map for unbundling
of postal department functions
.
"The idea is to develop Indian postal
sector as a full-fledged market, bring in more service providers to enhance
employment and contribution to nation's GDP," a senior ministry official
said.
A recent review meeting of the entire sector,
chaired by Sibal, found that in some European countries' the sector contributes
between 0.6-0.9 per cent of their GDP.
However, the contribution of the estimated Rs 15,000-crore
Indian Postal sector is much lower. Private players have been demanding
unbundling of the department's functions for a level-playing field and growth
of the sector.
At present, DoP -- which has around 5 lakh
employees -- is the sole body responsible for policy making, regulations and
providing postal service.
The over 100-year old Indian Post Office Act,
which governs the sector, bars any individual or entity from delivering letter
for commercial purpose.
The business of private courier companies is
built around delivering documents, parcels and others items which do not fall
under the category of 'letter'.
Sibal has asked DoP to create a framework to
support small and medium postal operators and new models to encourage
entrepreneurship in the sector.
The minister has also instructed DoP to
constitute a Postal Advisory Board (PAB) which should have representation from
government, industry players, academics and other stakeholders.
The role of PAB will be to provide inputs to
PDB on policy matters. PDB will be set up under Secretary (Posts) and will
include Secretaries of Department of Economic Affairs, Department of
Electronics and Information Technology, Department of Commerce and two members
from Postal Services Board.
Source : http://www.deccanchronicle.com
